To: iO! Staff
From: Paul Gorbould
Subject: gor[b]! gor[b]! gor[b]! gor[b]! gor[b]!
I have published something on my blog. Please go to my blog to see what I blogged.
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 04-15-2008 | 04:04 PM
Posted in: CBC | Teh Internets | Comments (6)
Since I’ve been working on it for more than a year, it seems appropriate that I should give just a wee plug to the shiny new CBC Digital Archives website.
Known among us archives types as simply “Phase II”, the new site has been completely redesigned from top to bottom - the first redesign in six years. Full details in the press release.
In some regards, the fact that the old site lasted six years is a testament to good design - hell, look at Google.com - a homepage designed by accident that has lasted for years.
Still, the old Archives site was getting creaky. In the YouTube era, people expect more video, and they expect it to be bigger than 240×180. And the new design fixed a few major limitations - bitty little graphics, the inability to properly house and showcase solo clips, no way to present classic CBC programs.
We’ve still got a few wrinkles to iron out (mostly pages that render too slowly, particularly in Internet Explorer) but overall I’m really pleased with the new design. I’d love to know what you think.
FYI, you can check out past iterations of the site at Archive.org’s Wayback Machine - an absolutely invaluable site, if you haven’t seen it.
On a similar note, I recently did some work with Joe Lawlor, CBC’s original webmaster, to archive the Archives site. I spend all day creating an archive of CBC Radio and CBC Television, but nobody archives CBC.ca.
So now we do. Using a $30 product called Offline Explorer, Joe and I regularly capture all of CBC.ca (well, most of it, not including media) to DVD. Not exactly high tech or professional, but I now have a catalogue of CBC.ca’s evolving site in a case on my desk.
I hope that one day the Archives site becomes trimedial - very few (if any?) corporations properly document their online development, and certainly not publicly.
As I found when I created the CBC.ca 10th anniversary site, even national broadcasters don’t keep copies of their online journalism.
Even today, websites tend to be seen as transient, disappearing into the past the moment they are published.
It reminds me of the early days of radio - broadcasts simply went out into the ether; why would anyone want to *keep* them? In fact, during the early years of the Second World War, CBC Radio recordings were etched on aluminum discs - which were melted down to make fighter planes as part of our contribution to the war effort.
But today, storage is (for all intents and purposes) free. We can, if we choose, keep all data, forever. The hard part is the planning.
Know any websites that catalogue their evolution? Please tell me about them - I’d love to check them out. And do poke around the new Archives site, and let me know what you think.
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 03-18-2008 | 11:03 AM
Posted in: CBC | Teh Internets | Comments (2)
You may recall (if you haven’t given up on my blogging of late - sorry) that I have a bug in my ear about billboards, particularly the petty little guerre between CTV and CBC in the vicinity of the CBC’s Toronto HQ. CTV had the foresight to buy up all the avails around the Death Star, so we’re constantly staring at the competition.
Well, seems turnabout is fair play. This morning I noticed this airbrushed ad being completed a half block from the CHUM-City building, which with City’s recent purchase has became a cornerstone of CTVglobemedia.
Yes, that’s the nerdy, iconic promo shot for the new CBC series Sophie, which premieres Wednesday on CBC. The large, hand-painted billboard sits just east of the CHUM-City parking lot at Queen & Duncan Streets. Yet another “f*** you” billboard - and if you squint your eyes a little, it sort of looks like Sophie is flipping the bird.
[No idea if this street level ad is legal (unlike the Strombo one) - but I bet our friend Rami would know. I’m guessing it counts as a mural, though technically it’s painted on a flat surface bolted to the wall, so it’s likely kosher. At least there’s an artist involved.]
I can’t vouch for the show, but it’s nice to see our communications folks fighting back, I guess.
Update: According to Rami, the painted sign has no permit and is “totally illegal”.
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 01-09-2008 | 01:01 AM
Posted in: CBC | Apocalypse signs | Comments (0)
(A parody inspired by a tortured analogy)
From a presentation by Paul House, Chairman, CEO and President, the TDL Group Corp. to the Standing Committee on Snacks and Beverages
Ottawa, Nov. 28, 2007
Mr. Chair, Members of the Committee.
Thank you for inviting us back to talk with you about the mandate of Tim Hortons Canada Ltd. It’s been almost 15 years since the Royal Commission on Donuts examined the Baking Act and the Tim Hortons mandate, and much has changed. It’s time for a new contract with the diner.
When speaking with Globe & Mail restaurant critic Joanne Kates last week, I used a simple analogy to outline my vision for reshaping Tim Hortons into a restaurant chain that truly reflects Canadians to themselves. It seems to have resonated with people, so I’d like to repeat it here:
Simply put, Tim Hortons must be more like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and less like Showcase.
If Tim Hortons is to be a nationwide chain with coffee and donuts paid for by consumers, then it has got to make an eating offer that is the broadest possible offer. It’s not a service that is built for individual consumers or the “muffin elite”. It must be all food and all drink to all people.
For decades, Tim Hortons has targeted specific market segments by placing a limited number of stores in a limited number of locations. Those numbers have grown, but there are still many communities where citizens do not have free, unfettered access to a full slate of coffee and donuts.
Consumers today are faced with myriad choices in this era of food convergence, and our diet is dominated by the predominance of American fast food and snack franchises.
Our competitors, such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme, cash in on appetite for popular American fare, selling U.S. pastries almost exclusively in prime locations. True Canadian snacks, like the Canadian Maple, the persian and proud butter tart are increasingly relegated to end-of-counter. Simply put, the private sector refuses to give Canadian cuisine the shelf space it so richly deserves.
This is where I see the CBC as being a model worth emulating in the coffee and donut business.
First, we need to rethink our revenue model. At the moment, monies are generated by selling individual food and drink products to individual consumers, on a user-pay basis. Those who cannot afford to buy donuts, muffins or danishes are left underserviced, as are those outside major metropolitan areas like Hamilton.
Access to Canadian food culture cannot be left to the vagaries of the market. Instead of relying on “sales”, Tim Hortons is therefore asking for a Parliamentary appropriation of $1 billion in stable, multi-year funding.
This works out to only $30 per capita – considerably less than any other G8 country except the U.S. spends on public pastries.
In return for this reasonable levy, each Canadian will have access to a full slate of nationally-available foods. Each man, woman and child – from coast to coast to coast - will receive a yearly allotment of five donuts (assorted), 3 black coffees, 1 coffee with triple cream triple sugar, 27 bran muffins and a small Iced Capp.
I want to emphasize that during prime consuming periods, our menu will be exclusively Canadian. Yes, there is money to be made by simply repackaging American foods, offering only the popular donuts that “taste good” and that consumers “want to eat.”
But we have a responsibility to offer the donuts that the other chains won’t provide or find unprofitable: amateur baking, regional cakes, children’s crackers and the best imported scones from Britain and around the world.
We must also fulfill our mandate to connect Canadians, and offer them snacks on a variety of platforms, so Canadians can access coffee where and when they want it. We are pushing heavily into Snack 2.0 technologies - rate this coffee, send it to a friend, recommend an employee of the month, and so on. Very soon, our stores will begin featuring User-Generated Donuts. Watch for myTimsVancouver to break this new ground in the coming months.
Fewer pastries baked in Toronto. Teas that reflect different cultures. DonutHD. Less icing, more toasted coconut. With a new mandate and increased federal funding, the new Tim Hortons will be positioned to take the donut into the 21st century.
Thank you.
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 12-04-2007 | 12:12 AM
Posted in: CBC | Comments (4)
Little known fact - it’s the 50th anniversary of broiler chicken.
To commemorate the auspicious moment, CBC Calgary has put together a terrifying time-lapse slideshow of how the cute little chick of yesteryear have morphed into the mutant, top-heavy freak seen in this police lineup style shot.
Check out the photo gallery “50 years of Broiler Chicken - 1957 to today” to see how large and quickly chickens grow today. (The image above shows the eatin’ on a 55-day-old bird from 2007 compared to the scrawny weaklings of 1957. Kids these days.)
No wonder Alberta likes its beef. I wonder what the sirloin photo gallery would look like?
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 11-23-2007 | 01:11 AM
Posted in: CBC | Blather | Comments (0)
More innovation on the micro-recycling front!
The overflowing bin pictured in the post below has disappeared, and was replaced by a receptacle more in keeping with waste reduction:
And the tiny toy blue bins distributed with the launch of our new program have become the latest fashion accessory! Combined with your lanyard or belt retractor, or a garden-variety carabiner, these containers can be used to help you carry your waste with you - to the recycling depot, your home, the junk yard, the night club… endless possibilities!
Use it to dispense, then re-spense your Kleenex…
Lug your organics…
Or use it as a safe, sturdy and stylish holster for your Blackberry, cell phone or PDA!
There are even unconfirmed reports that they can even be used to enjoy a hot, overpriced beverage. (Mine is being used to hold pens right now, but my daughter’s Barbies may need it for the next time we play Malibu Board of Works.)
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 10-31-2007 | 12:10 PM
Posted in: CBC | Comments (0)
The corporation’s new recycling regime has been in place for a week now, and things are starting to settle down. There are still a few wrinkles - some organic waste bins haven’t yet arrived, leaving people with a five minute walk to divest themselves of a banana peel - but overall it’s a positive change. People are even starting to talk about lugging a mug instead of collecting oodles of evil Ooh La La styrofoam coffee cups!
Having a better recycling system was something employees in this building repeatedly requested, so it’s up to us to make it work. I’m down with that. Still, there’s a certain amount of culture shock when you have to do something in a new way. And some of the employee reactions and workarounds have been pretty funny.
The Hour did a very funny parody of the new recycling system last week. And this week, I noticed a few foibles in my corner of the second floor. To wit:
When a good old fashioned garbage bin was found lurking in terror inside our kitchenette, it was quickly assaulted with waste of all kinds (including, inexplicably, some recyclables.) As you can see, some people don’t have a clear idea of “capacity” - perhaps they think it’s a sort of Garbage TARDIS and will turn out to be bigger on the inside than the outside.
That prompted a miffed nearby cubicle dweller to post a two-page scolding, concluding thusly:
Some, with a better idea of capacity, decided to ignore the cute little official micro-garbage that attaches to your blue bin, and create a big bin of their own:
Another colleague was eager to get with the program, but didn’t have one of the normal under-desk blue bins we all have. So he called up to request one, and this comical arrangement was waiting for him the next day:
Talk about overkill! He’s a big guy, but how many pop cans do they think he goes through? He can almost bathe in that thing. Notice how it’s almost the same size as the filing cabinet behind it… and it makes the wee garbage sidecar pocket look really funny by comparison. Reminds me a bit of Master Blaster from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 10-25-2007 | 12:10 AM
Posted in: CBC | Comments (1)
Today CBC in Toronto unleashed a new recycling program which has everyone in a tizzy. It’s a 180 degree turn - whereas before they didn’t recycle enough, now it’s almost impossible to throw something away.
It’s a great idea, but for the moment confusion reigns. It’s a cold Monday morning, and as everyone arrived they blew their nose and looked for a place to put their used Kleenex and empty coffee cup… and had no clue what to do with either.
The garbage bins had all been taken away, replaced with an unlabeled black sidecar hanging on the blue box. These lunchbag-sized containers, which replaced a daily garbage bin five times the size, are to hold your garbage for a full week.
Organic and paper waste can now be dealt with in new ways, but the accompanying literature didn’t explain what to do with used Kleenex or empty Tim Horton’s cups. I’m told that a clarification is coming, but until then, here are the answers I received to my top five questions:
1) Kleenex: if it’s gross, put it in the organics bin. If it’s clean it can go in paper.
2) Organic bins: small green bins, emptied daily, are supposed to be in each kitchenette. But the lids didn’t arrive today, so they should be available tomorrow. For today, you can take organic waste to the new bin in the main recycling centres.
3) Cardboard coffee cups: These CAN be recycled in the paper box. They often have a waterproof coating, but this generally comes out in Toronto’s recycling process. I’m told the city doesn’t advertise that, because they aren’t convinced that they’ll be able to handle coating from ALL the Tim’s cups if people knew to put them in the recylcing. So they’ve been deliberately vague.
4) If your miniscule garbage container fills up (e.g. you use two plastic cups in a week) you can empty them at the main recycling stations. These used to only receive recyclables, but now have a big bin for garbage too.
5) Bring out your dead… electronics. Today and tomorrow, the corp will take your dead electronics from home (cell phones, monitors, printers etc.) and have them recycled. Good deal!
More as it unfolds… excuse me while I walk my pile of Kleenex down the hall. (Get that free flu shot, OK?)
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 10-15-2007 | 09:10 AM
Posted in: CBC | Comments (0)
After an abortive attempt at drafting up guidelines for how CBC’ers should and should not blog, the corp today released the real version of it’s approach to employee blogging, Facebooking, podcasting and more.
It’s called “Self-publishing and self-expression on the Internet”, and - though not perfect - it is an eminently more sensible document. The tone is cautiously encouraging, and the bulk of it explains how existing policies - journalistic, IT and HR - affect what you do online.
Though I don’t know of any bloggers who were consulted this time or last, the change in tone certainly reflects the lively conversation that evolved last time around. I recognize a few bits of the text.
And I’m very much surprised to see the last bullet point referencing the CBC Blogging Manifesto, which I helped create more than a year ago.
- The CBC Blogging Manifesto that is referred to on Inside the CBC, the official blog of the Corporation, and elsewhere on the Web, is not corporate policy or guideline. It was devised and adopted independently by a number of prominent employee bloggers. While not formally sanctioned, it nonetheless offers good advice to those wishing to blog about CBC/Radio-Canada, or to those wishing to carry out any similar self-publishing activity.
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 10-12-2007 | 09:10 PM
Posted in: CBC | Blogging | Comments (5)
Inspired by a message from my corporate technology department.
Next GroupWise purge: Saturday, October 20th, 2007
On October 20th, 2007, we will purge all GroupWise accounts of non-archived mail dating from prior to October 19th, 2007.
We realize that the inability to store messages for more than 24 hours may cause some minor inconvenience to employees. To minimize the impact of this new policy, please follow these steps:
- Delete all messages as soon as you have read them (the existing Read/Unread functionality is redundant, and will be deprecated.)
- If you think you may need particular details at a later date, please commit them to memory, or write them down in a three-ring binder. But please purge the pages from your binder at least once a week, as binder space is expensive. NOTE: Information Technology is investigating an upgrade to 3″ binders, but these may not work with all applications and are not supported.
- If you intend to be on vacation or sick for more than 24 hours, please set up an auto-delete rule on your GroupWise account. A simple automated reply message should be created, such as: “I’m sorry, I’m not around to receive your e-mail right now, and have deleted it. Please try again when you know I’m at my desk.”
- Employees are encouraged to subscribe to a free Gmail account, where storage space is somehow almost unlimited. According to their website, such accounts have “Over 2910.863667 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you’ll never need to delete another message”. We originally believed this counter was in fact counting down the diminishing amount of space, as ours does, but was not the case. We suspect witchcraft.
- Pay careful attention to the size of attachments, particularly audio, video, text or data files, which are often reasonably large. Do not send such files as e-mail attachments. Burn them to a CD or DVD, and put them in the internal mail. Or harness the power of the internet by placing them on a file-sharing system like BitTorrent so they can be accessed without undue strain on our capacity.
- Pay careful attention to the word count on messages you send. Where possible, use emoticons to convey context without using undue characters. Text message abbreviations and short grunts are often sufficient.
- To ensure efficient use of our finite resources, all libraries and archives will adopt a similar purge policy beginning immediately. If you subscribe to a periodical, a new issue will not be released until the previous one has put in the recycle bin and the bin has been emptied. Television programs are requested to reduce the number of shows they produce, as archive shelf space is limited.
The Access to Information law:
Each employee has the duty to safeguard in an appropriate manner business records that he/she creates or receives from an external source:
- Please delete all messages of a non-essential or essential nature. If possible, please avoid sending them in the first place. Work-related conversations must be plausibly deniable. If you must communicate with another employee, ensure nobody is watching.
- To understand how to distinguish business records from transitory records, please apply our new “year zero” filing criteria:
Did it happen prior to September 1, 2007? If the answer is “no”, the information is transitory. If you believe the answer is “yes”, you are simply incorrect.
Once again, thank you all for doing your part to reduce the load on the GroupWise system. This internet thing can’t keep growing forever.
Please delete this message.
Too slow. I’ll retract it. You didn’t see me….
Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 10-10-2007 | 09:10 AM
Posted in: CBC | Teh Internets | Comments (3)
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